Peeling skin syndrome with aminoaciduria.

A 12-year-old child presented with asymptomatic, noninflammatory, generalized peeling of the skin since early childhood. He was diagnosed as having type A continual peeling skin syndrome. Associated increased excretion of cystine and histidine in the urine has hitherto not been reported.

Antenatal diagnosis of hereditary fetal growth retardation with aminoaciduria, cholestasis, iron overload, and lactic acidosis in the newborn infant.

OBJECTIVE: A prenatal diagnosis of the fetus for a mother of two previously deceased infants who died from the recently described autosomal recessive disease (OMIM 603358). The infants presented with intrauterine growth retardation, aminoaciduria, cholestasis, iron overload, severe lactic acidosis, and early death (GRACILE syndrome). STUDY DESIGN: DNA was extracted from the fibroblasts and tissue samples of the deceased infants, parental leukocytes, and from a chorion villus biopsy in the next pregnancy. Haplotypes were determined using the relevant markers flanking the disease-associated region of chromosome 2. RESULTS: Both deceased infants were homozygous for the four critical markers. The fetal haploptypes were identical to those of the siblings and the pregnancy was terminated. The iron content of the fetal liver was increased (5000 microg/g) compared with the controls, with a marked iron accumulation in the Kupffer cells. CONCLUSIONS: Antenatal diagnosis can be performed based on linkage analysis in families with at least one affected child because the disease locus has been assigned to a restricted chromosomal region. Typical histological abnormalities may be present in early fetal life.

Pathology of lethal fetal growth retardation syndrome with aminoaciduria, iron overload, and lactic acidosis (GRACILE).

Autopsy study of 17 newborn infants with lethal autosomal recessive disease presenting as growth retardation with lactic acidosis, Fanconi aminoaciduria, and hepatic hemosiderosis is reported. The patients succumbed between day 1 and 4 months of life; 9 patients died within the first month. All patients showed severe pathologic changes of liver with cholestasis in all livers. Extensive accumulation of stainable iron of the hepatocytes was present in 9/17 autopsy tissues and in two biopsy specimens. Moderate to abundant iron storage in the Kupffer cells was seen in all liver specimens. The amount of hepatocytic iron was high in livers up to 1 month of age and decreased thereafter. The general features and liver findings of this disorder suggest the name Growth Retardation Aminoaciduria Cholestasis Iron Overload, Lactacidosis and Early Death (GRACILE, OMIM 603358). Calcified concrements were seen in the medulla of 13/16 kidney specimens. Pancreas of 13/14 patients showed interstitial fibrosis and exocrine atrophy. Various pathologic findings such as renal tubular dysgenesis, paucity of hepatic bile ducts and iron storage in the macrophages of spleen and pulmonary alveoli were observed in some cases. Previous extensive clinical genetic and laboratory investigations have revealed that the patients had a previously unrecognized genetic disease. It is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait. The gene locus is 2q33-37. The basic defect of the disease remains unknown.

L-2-Hydroxyglutaric aciduria: clinical, biochemical and magnetic resonance imaging in six Portuguese pediatric patients.

We present clinical, biochemical and cranial magnetic resonance imaging data of six pediatric patients with L-2-hydroxyglutaric aciduria. All the children have the same ethic origin and lived in the northern area of Portugal. Our findings reinforce the described phenotype of this rare metabolic disease with mental deficiency, severe cerebellar dysfunction, mild extrapyramidal and pyramidal symptoms, progressive macrocephaly and seizures. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed subcortical leukoencephalopathy, cerebellar atrophy and signal changes in the putamina and dentate nuclei. These were similar to those of the previous reports in all patients. The urinary excretion of L-2-hydroxyglutaric acid was variably increased in all patients. The other persistent biochemical abnormality was hyperlysinemia. We have found a strong correlation between the severity of the clinical manifestations and the extension of the lesions in the neuroimaging studies. There was no correlation between the clinical findings and the amount of urinary excretion of L-2-hydroxyglutaric acid. We report the second case in the literature of a cerebral thalamic tumor in L-2-hydroxyglutaric aciduria; neuropathological examination of the surgical biopsy demonstrated a diffuse fibrillary astrocytoma.

2-Hydroxyglutaric aciduria: a case report on an infant with the D-isomeric form with review of the literature.

We report on an infant with D-2-hydroxyglutaric aciduria, who presented with severe seizures and developmental delay. We reviewed the literature for 2-hydroxyglutaric aciduria and found six other patients with the D-isomer and 24 patients with the L-isomer. Although the clinical spectrum of this inborn error of metabolism is variable, the clinical course of the D-form seems to be more severe than this of the L-form.

Report of three cases of mucopolysacchaidoses and an unusual case of hyperaminoaciduria detected during the screening of mentally retarded children.

315 mentally retarded children from the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh, south India, were screened to detect metabolic defects. Results with 2 cases of Hunter's syndrome, 1 case of Sanfilippo's syndrome and an unusual case of hyperamino aciduria are presented.

Asperger's syndrome and aminoaciduria: a case example.

An 18-year-old male, originally diagnosed as suffering from infantile autism but with a developmental history and clinical picture in keeping with Asperger's syndrome, and showing current signs of impairment of higher cerebral functioning, is presented. The subject and several males of his family present behavioural disturbances of an enduring type. An aminoaciduria was discovered in the subject and his father. A possible relationship between the metabolic disturbance and the neurological and behavioural disturbance is raised. Mechanisms for this relationship are discussed, including sporadic hyperlysinaemia.

Netherton's syndrome. Report of a case and review of the literature.

A patient with Netherton's syndrome who was followed since birth had previously been diagnosed as having Leiner's disease and acrodermatitis enteropathica; the disorder was recognized clinically when the patient was 20 years of age. Therapy with 13-cis-retinoic acid significantly aggravated the ichthyosis and induced increased fragility of the skin. This patient also had an intermittent aminoaciduria with clinical investigations that showed normal renal function. Furthermore, the aminoaciduria resolved spontaneously after the discontinuance of topically applied corticosteroids. The normal results of clinical studies and a review of the literature suggest that the aminoaciduria may have been artifactual because excess absorption of topically applied corticosteroids directly affects the renal tubules and impairs renal reabsorption or enhances the free excretion of amino acids. We review forty-two other cases of Netherton's syndrome in the literature and reaffirm the significance of associated ichthyosis, atopy, trichorrhexis invaginata, and other findings in this unique syndrome.

Hyperaminoaciduria in mild phosphate diabetes in adults.

Quantitative urinary amino acid excretion has been studied in 23 adult patients with mild phosphate diabetes (MPD), in 22 adult control patients with various renal disorders and in 15 children, 7--19 years old, with atopic disorders (normal controls). Statistically significant increases in urinary excretion of glutamine (p < 0.01), glycine (p < 0.01) and cystine (p < 0.05) were found in the MPD patients compared to the normal controls. The urinary excretion of glutamine was significantly increased while the increases in cystine and glycine excretions were non-significant when MPD patients were compared to the control patients. In addition to clinical signs and analyses of plasma and urinary phosphate, a quantitative evaluation of urinary amino acids might be a tool in the diagnosis of MPD. The significance of the increased urinary amino acid excretion in MPD is discussed.

Hyperdibasicaminoaciduria in a Turkish infant without evident protein intolerance.

The first patient of Turkish descent with hyperdibasicaminoaciduria is described. Recurrent diarrhea was observed only during the first three months of life. The infant exhibited low plasma levels of ornithine and arginine. Intestinal absorption of lysine was decreased. Hyperammonemia was noticed only after an i.v. alanine load. It was prevented by addition of arginine.